The TrueTalk Blog

Between 140 and 10,000

The problem with blog posts is that they fall somewhere between a tweet and a book.

When Twitter came along it became a lot easier to just point to something and be pithy than to log into TypePad, think, and write something intelligent.

Not that my tweets aren't intelligent (or that my blog posts are!), but...well, you know what I mean.

Tweets are quick, to the point and satisfying.

Like fast food. Not terribly nutritious but they do relieve the need, in this case, to write.

I'm not saying that's a good thing, only an observation.

However, with my class in The Meaning of Branded Objects In Modern Life at the School of Visual Arts Masters in Professional Studies in Branding beginning in about 10 days, I have a sneaky feeling I'll have some topics to address that will take a tad more than 140 characters to address.

Stay tuned and have a great Labor Day weekend!

A Question of Timing

I had an odd thought the other day: it's hard to believe that when you were, say, 14, every day was just as long as your days are now.

That's because time shrinks as it recedes into the past. 

I mean, think of 1998. 

What happened? Oh, you might recall one or two things; maybe you remember 10. 

But the intervening 12 years has put '98 through a kind of freeze-drying process, reducing it to a shrunken-headed caricature of a year. 

August 15, 1998? Remember spending those two hours in a traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge? 

Probably not. 

And, even if you do, only as a clock tick.

But each of those hours, each of those minutes, was just as long as any of today's.

At least that's what physics tells us.

But, physics doesn't know anything about time. 

Not really. 

All physics knows are inexorable cycles demarcated by (electro)mechanical devices for our social/economic convenience.  

Us, we know time is this elastic substance that confounds us throughout our lives; always in short supply when you desire it most; always abundant when you don't. 

HP's Mark Hurd Decision: Foolish or Wise?

If you're at all interested in corporate leadership, you've undoubtedly heard by now about the Hewlett-Packard board of directors' decision to ask former CEO Mark Hurd to resign over an alleged tabloid-worthy sexual harassment suit.

A mess.

Everybody's got an opinion on HP's decision, from Harvard Business Review to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. 

So, what do you think? 

Was HP's board: 

1. resolutely upholding ethical guidelines 
2. quivering in the face of an aggressive attorney 
3. acting on another agenda

Enquiring minds want to know!